Please reply to this thread with a brief summary/key points of the text you
have read from the general reading list for this week's topic on heretics.
Deviance A
Deviance A
Week 5 - Heretics
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‘How to Detect a Clandestine Minority: The Example of the Waldenses’, Gabriel Audisio * unique medieval dissident group, who survived the Renaissance century that were born in Lyon and the end of the C12th. The documents of repression conveying the points of views of their enemies enact as special sources in helping Historians research Waldenses. * founded by Vaudes, a rich merchant * three fundamental bases can be distinguished that constituted an actual protest against the traditional Catholic Church * particular devotion and sensibility towards poverty as an exact evangelical pattern to follow in life. Vaudes sold all his goods and subsequently gave money to the poor. This criticised the Catholic prelates (a bishop or a high ecclesiastical dignitary) e.g. the archbishop of Lyon who lived an extravagant lifestyle on a grand scale. * preaching should not be restricted to the priests. All christians, men and women should be allowed to preach in the vernacular language and not in Latin. This was perceived as a direct attack against the clerks who wished to maintain the monopoly of preaching. In addition to this, the Waldenses also believed that the scriptures should be available for believers to access in the vernacular language. * biblical literalism: the holy scriptures should not be interpreted into the vernacular, the text should be translated literally. They sought to follow the literal sense of the scripture in their day-to-day living. This caused problems between themselves and the secular authorities and the Catholic church. Waldensian literalism 1) ‘/ you shall not bind yourself to any oath at all’/ Matt 5:34-36. During the middle ages, biblical oaths were required to be given on nearly every important occasion such as renting land and marriage. Through refusing to take an oath, the Waldenses attracted the attention of the authorities and dug their own pitt. If any person refused to take an oath during any trail they were immediately accused of following the practises of a Waldensian. 2) because the doctrine of Purgatory could not be found in scripture, the sect denied it e.g. refusal of masses for the dead, and all other prayers for the dead. Most parish priests received much of their income from masses/praying for the dead, therefore they became largely irritated at the spread of Waldensian doctrines and actively strove to silence the next sect. The persecution of this sect began to take place after their activities became known to the authorities. At first, they were not condemned as heretics, however they fled persecutions and the sect was eventually dispersed all over Europe. Many vigorous persecutions took place against them, however the sects continued to exist. By the mid C15th the group had undergone many changes: it had become a rural people and mostly clandestine dissident group. As an adaptation of the clandestine life, barbes (Uncles) arose as a specific body of lay preachers. This group of travelled, celibate men of special piety (quality of being religious/reverent) and poverty were the cement that held the Waldenses community together. They preached only in Waldenses homes in secret by night and the barbes obtained their support and authority for the Waldensian community alone. They were scattered in many regions of Europe: esp. Italy. The criteria for identifying the Waldensian is insufficient: it is the accumulation of characteristics such as: * marriage - religious endogamy above geographical: usual practice was to marry someone from your own village or neighbouring villages. Therefore the geographical exogamy hid the religious endogamy. They married exclusively amongst theirselves (90%) * burial - they were increasingly reserved about burials at the church compared to their catholic contemporaries who held + 30 masses * dowry - Smaller dowry from girls father, 50 florins Each various protocal can be correlated together to help the identification proccess of a Waldensian community.0 likes
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Thanks for getting this started Addie - a really helpful summary!0 likes
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*Shannon McSheffrey, "Heresy, Orthodoxy and English Vernacular Religion 1480-1525",/Past & Present/, No. 186 (Feb., 2005), pp. 47-80* Personally I found this text to have been a very complicated and long read. In it, the author discusses the influence of vernacular English on perceptions of Heresy and Orthodoxy in pre-modern Britain, taking the Lollards as principle example (unfortunately being rather narrative than analytical). It draws back on a lot of case studies. The sources that tell us about these case studies are heavily questioned afterwards as well. Hence we find that the author spends most of his time arguing on methodology and historical accuracy, and in fact very little on actual personal analysis. One of the most irritating features concerning this work, is the constant mentioning of names that are not relevant to any long-standing argumentation, but still flood the content. Also, the whole approach to the matter was too specific for me, as I was not very familiar with Lollarcy in the first place. * The border between a heretic and an orthodox believer was permeable and situational rather than strictly theological, shifting according to the social position of the person making the judgement. * The author argues that the existence of heretics (“those who consciously differed from the established Church in late medieval England”) was not invented by prosecuting authorities. The definitive issue is intention: to be a heretic in England in the decades around 1500 involved more than a concern for the poor or an interest in vernacular Bibles, it involved a choice to reject the authority of the Catholic Church; according to this stream of thought. * Late Lollardy itself was tied not so much to a strict tradition back to Wyclif and his theological basis, but rather a self-conscious separation from orthodoxy based only loosely on Wyclif – having as main argumentation the direct access to the word of God through reading of the scripture. * The language the holy scripture was written in was not as important to matters of orthodoxy/heresy, as the way it was read, understood and interpreted. * Orthodoxy standards changed significantly between Catholics-Protestants, Societies or Cultures. Heresy resided in this view, in the minds of its persecutors rather than in the intentions of the accused. Hence “....Heresy was at least as much - or more - about authority as it was about doctrine.”. * The arrival of the English vernacular printed book in the last decades of the fifteenth century transformed the nature of English religious culture, with the early printing presses producing a huge amount of editions of vernacular religious texts. * “Advocacy of vernacular prayer and possession” of English books were prosecuted, because they were considered to be part of a complex of beliefs that challenged the authority of the Roman Catholic Church * Lollard rejection of Latin was part of an overall rejection of Catholic authority and from the point of view of the ecclesiastical prosecutors it was the rejection of authority that was the real problem of Lollarcy. * Yet, because vernacular English was the official reason for defining heresy, the Catholic authority's main aim was at religious books written in English. These on the other hand were part of the core features of Lollardy. * Social status also conditioned how the act of reading in English was interpreted by the authorities who prosecuted Lollards and by the Lollards themselves. * At the end the author asks wether Lollards were a 'movement', a 'sect' or an own religious institution (does not answer the question though).0 likes
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Cathars - Dan/The Catholics, the Cathars, and the Concept of Infinity in the Thirteenth Century/, Anne A. Davenport, Isis, Vol. 88, No. 2 (Jun., 1997), pp. 263-295 This article is firstly explaining the Cathar beliefs, in particular their dualism. It then goes on to mention some arguments in debates between Cathar and Catholic scholars, going into much detail as to their purpose, change over time, and weaknesses. • The Cathars denied that God was anywhere in material world • The Cathars could not believe God created a world with such suffering, and so split him into the God of ‘Light’ (‘from whom the spiritual realm radiates eternally’) and the God of ‘Darkness’ (‘responsible for material creation and time’) • The Cathars actively attempted to improve their education and skill, sending students to Paris to study a variety of things, in order to prove themselves correct against the Catholic church • The Cathars denied free will and transubstantiation • In ever-intensifying debates between Cathar and Catholic scholars, both took to more rational trains of thought, and sought to out-rationalise the other o Alexander Nequam, a catholic scholar, stated, ‘Since indeed it seems that rational arguments convince our opponents better than [scriptural] authority, we will not be loath to decapitate Goliath with his own sword.’ – he believes that since God is immense, their being two deities (dualism) is impossible • By the mid 1240s, theological rivalry had departed and Catholic repression was constant. • Later on, thinkers such as Richard Fishacre appeared. This was more general, less pointed towards heretics, but meant to bolster Catholic doctrine as a whole. Such arguments were more general, and argue for Genesis’s creator God, to bolster the Catholic version of biblic Scripture, than to play on the Cathar’s playing field in regards to definitions.0 likes
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Peter Biller, 'Fat Christian and Old Peter: ideals and compromises among the medieval Waldensians', in Rosemary Horrox and Sarah Rees Jones (eds.), Pragmatic Utopias, pp. 174-187.* Waldensians founded in late twelth century Lyon by a pious layman called Valdes * The group has little documentation during its first fifty years or so after conception until it was brought to the attention of the Catholic inquisition which kept records and accumulated data (primarily on its trials and investigations) * The Waldensians could have followed a similar pattern to the Franciscan or Dominican denominations but subsided into disobedience and heretical tendencies (although not to the level of the Cathars) * Compromise was key to the survival of the Waldensians and as persecution increased, secret sermons were necessary to avoid detection * This created confusion amongst followers as they were subject to Roman Catholic preachers and Waldensian sermons * Waldensian Brothers and Sisters led migratory lives as their pastorate changed every two or three years (possibly to avoid the attention of local authorities) * Those caught practicing illegally could be punished by forced conversion, imprisonment or execution. More would be known about the Waldensians if sources weren't primarily from the Roman Catholic inquisition. The history of the Waldensians suffers from 'a silence from men of middling views', Waldensian Brothers that were not discovered by the inquisition and no interest in vociferously speaking out in favour of the movement and instead could retire (relatively) peacefully in old age when there migratory existence came to an end.0 likes
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S.McSheffrey,-----, Heresy, Orthodoxy and English Vernacular Religion, 1480-1525, Past and Present, 186 (2005), 47-80Ricardo has already given a pretty comprehensive overview of this text, but I'll add what I can. McSheffrey focuses in upon one particular aspect associated with the Lollards, vernacular prayer, and explores its role in Lollard persecution. * Lollards had no strictly defined set of doctrine, but instead chose to challenge traditional authority in a number of ways, one of those being the translation of religious text and prayer into the vernacular. Ideology became less coherent over time, as later Lollard's moved further away from their original roots in a Wyclif text. This lack of complete unifying ideology meant that Lollard's were rarely a coherent or mobilised group. * McSheffrey focuses mainly on the issues surrounding persecution and vernacular prayer. Whilst vernacular prayer was an aspect of Lollard's belief, it was not necessary an act of heresy to possess religious texts in the vernacular language. Many bishops and other members of the elite had vernacular texts, and were never persecuted or accused of heresy. McSheffrey argues that this was due to the influence of social status, and that elites did not necessarily have to maintain strict orthodoxy. * The fact that it was not the translation of these texts that was important, but their interpretation, is also emphasised. McSheffrey uses this to show both that there were blurred lines between orthodoxy and heresy, and that heresy was a choice. In choosing to use vernacular texts to question Catholic authority, the Lollards were identifying themselves as heretics, and therefore subject for persecution. * McSheffrey also points out that some of the sources that are used to document the persecution of Lollards can be problematic. In particular, she talks about Foxe's account of the Lollards of Coventry, and the fact that it is based primarily on oral evidence, given that Foxe's was out of the country during the main persecution. She accuses Foxe of overemphasising the accusations regarding vernacular prayer, and instead believes there were other reasons for this particular case of persecution. * Overall, Lollards were not solely identified by use of vernacular prayer, but instead their use of this prayer to question Catholic practice and authority. this made them a threat to the established order, and therefore vulnerable to persecution.0 likes
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Lollardy and Orthodox Religion in Pre-reformation England by Robert Lutton* Lollardy first became local tradition in 1422 in Tenterden, laid down by Wycliffite teacher Thomas Drayton, in Kent. Lollardy had no official centralised movements or belief system therefore Lollards tended to evolve in localised groups with similar beliefs. Since there was no official doctrine different Lollards did not necessarily agree with one another, although there were common beliefs concerning Eucharist and the need for reformation of the Church. * Kent increasingly seen as a heretical centre - 23 of the 30 suspects from the Warnham trials of 1511/1512 lived in the village of Tenterden and many others lived around Kent, having roots established from the 1470's/1480's. * Bishop Warnham lead the trials in 1511/1512, wherein the heretical beliefs abjured by the suspects were fairly moderate compared to William White's trial ( a Priest and Lollard heretic from the original group in the 1420's who helped establish Lollardy in East Anglia, and can be considered a leading force.) * The accused had admitted to renouncing Eucharist/ questioning the use of Pilgrimage and Saint's Images, and most importantly renouncing transubstation ie bread not actual body of Christ, just material bread -William Baker of Cranbrook said 'that god made man but man coude not make gode'. * Had belief that God gave no more power to a preist than to a layman, questioning of the power, and therefore corruption of priests in general. * Warnham's register never mentions Lollards or Lollardy but refers only to 'heresy' and 'heretics', through the abjurations we can deduse their beliefs. * General postion by Kent Lollards that rituals of the Church unecessary and unprofitable, but nor harmful, therefore they were considered relatively moderate, unlike many of their predecessors. One practise they did consider harmful however was that of confession to priests rather than private confession to God, and that private prayer should no be made to saints. * Considered themselves to be religiously orthodox but not beyond questioning certain traditional aspects of the church and religion.0 likes